About us
The area of supervision of the SFAO
The SFAO audits:
- Central and decentral federal administration
- Parliamentary Services
- Beneficiaries of subventions (e.g. road construction, agriculture)
- Entities in charge of public tasks (e.g. Swiss National Foundation)
- Enterprises in which the Confederation has a majority shareholding
- Federal Courts (in administrative matters, also supervised by the Parliament).
The Federal Auditing Act explicitly excludes two bodies with public responsibility from the area of audit falling under the SFAO. These are namely, the Swiss National Accident Insurance Organisation (SUVA) and the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
On the other hand, the SFAO also meets the need for audit mandates in international organisations (e.g. World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in Geneva). In connection with its commitment to UN organisations, the SFAO is also an active member of the UN Panel of External Auditors. Apart from this, the SFAO is a member of and the auditor for INTOSAI, the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.
Apart from the SFAO there a several other offices with control functions. The Federal Auditing Act makes provision that the SFAO decides on its supervisory activities in conjunction with the Parliamentary Control of the Administration (PCA). The activities of the SFAO are coordinated with the financial inspectorates of the federal administration. Collaboration with the audit offices of the cantons also takes place.